THE GENESEE FARMER. 



887 



A SOW AND nOS OF THE LARGE EREin. 



"'^'^r "^ 



LASGE EEEED OF HOGS. 



The fashion for large hogs in Great Britain has 

 for some time been on the wane. The most popu- 

 lar breeds there, are the improved Essex, Suffolk, 

 Berkshire, and Middlesex, all of which are called 

 " small breeds." The •' improvement" usually con- 

 sists in reducing the amount of olfal and bone, and 

 to do this it is found necessary to reduce the size 

 of the animal either by breeding in-and-in or by 

 crossing with some finer, smaller breed, such as the 

 Chinese, Neapohtan, etc. Tlie value of small hogs 

 consists chiefly of their early maturity, and in sup- 

 jilying the butcher with joints of fresh pork of rare 

 excellence for city epicures. In the immediate 

 vicinity of large cities, therefore, small, delicate 

 hogs will generally be found most profitable. In 

 the great pork raising States of the West, how- 

 ever, where bacon and large hams are required for 

 exportation, a larger breed of hogs will be in de- 

 mand, and this we believe is generally the case. 



We have always taken the ground that no im- 

 .ported breeds can do so well in this climate as in 

 that from which they were brought. Why should 

 we inrport hogs ? All the improved English breeds 



are made uj). And why we can not just as well 

 make a breed here that shall suit our circumstances, 

 and need no acclimating, we can not imagine. The 

 fecundity of pigs gives the breeder.a greater facility 

 in improving liis hogs than he possesses with any 

 other large domestic animal. Let him have an 

 object in view and steadily pursue it for a few- 

 years, and success and great profit are certain. 

 We very much need a good breed of hogs, and we 

 trust our intelligent, enterprising breeders will give 

 more attention to the subject than hitherto. To 

 show what can be done by judicious breeding, 

 selection and crossing, we give an excellent cut of 

 a large sow, originally a cross between the York- 

 shire, Leicester, etc. She is an admirable speci- 

 men of a large breed of pigs. The only fault we 

 can discover is one that is not very common among 

 pig breeders, — she is very mudi too fat. The 

 owner said it was impossible to keep her poor! 

 There may be some truth in this, especially it she 

 had the run of the barn yard, but by shutting her 

 up, she might easily be kept just in the right con- 

 dition for breeding. 

 If any of oiir readers have any experiments as to 



